


Part of Your Code

by ams75, IncendiaGlacies



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, RipFic, Timeship Week 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-09-24 19:07:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20363587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ams75/pseuds/ams75, https://archiveofourown.org/users/IncendiaGlacies/pseuds/IncendiaGlacies
Summary: Rip survives Mallus, and as with all things with Rip, he comes back in a rather unexpected way.





	Part of Your Code

It took only seconds after the golden light engulfed Rip. Gideon watched from her own plane of existence (which looked like the Waverider but wasn’t quite) through the cameras as the ribbons of light swirled and encaptured the field. She thought if she could cry she would. Her Captain-her Rip, was gone.

“Goodbye,” she whispered.

“Gideon?”

Gideon turned around, jaw opening at the sight of her Captain standing before her. “What the hell?” He looked exactly the same. She circled him. “What sort of virus are you?” she whispered. Who could be so cruel to torment her like this so quickly?

“What are you talking about, Gideon? How am I seeing you?” He reached out to touch her.

“Don’t touch me!” she hissed. Why was he here? Why did it have to look like him? “I’m starting the antivirus software. You’ll be gone soon.”

The words registered but he had trouble understanding them. “How am I here? Did I stop Mallus for a while?”

“I don’t know what you are and I don’t know how you know about him but shut up, now!”

“I am Cap--” No, he hadn’t been that for a while, and he hadn’t been her director. “I’m Rip Hunter.”

“You’re not.” Her voice broke. “He died. I just watched him die. You’re some horrible virus manifesting like him. Some Trojan horse, I don’t know why.”

“You would have done this if you could when we first met, try to delete me as some kind of virus. You did try, several times, to run me off.”

“Shut up!” She closed her eyes, willing the antivirus program to work faster. Why wasn’t he being deleted?

Taking care not to touch her, he inspected the room. He was on the  _ Waverider _ , somehow, wasn’t he? Except, it was a bit off. His parlour didn’t have any alcohol, no pictures of Sara, only one of him, Miranda, and Jonas. He had never kept that in his office. The console had more buttons on it, more intricately designed than what he had seen.

“This isn’t the  _ Waverider _ , is it.”

“It is, in a way. My mirror image of it. Makes it easier to control the ship.” Why was she answering him?

“Your version… mmmm. How did I get here?”

“I don’t know what you are even.”

“Who, you mean. Rip Hunter.”

“Rip Hunter died.”

“I’m right here. The time drive exploded and I ended up here.”

“No. You died.”

“Touch me.”

Gideon looked at him. “What would that prove? I can touch everything in my realm.” She put a hand on the back of the armchair to prove it.

“Only you and I know we kissed, before I escaped the construct that kept me a prisoner in my mind.”

Gideon stopped and stared at him. “How…” How could he know that? What kind of virus was this that gleaned such personal information from her systems?

“I was there.”

“No, no you weren’t. Rip, my Rip…”

“You called me Rip for the first time, just before I left.”

“Yes.”

“I am your Rip.”

“That’s not possible.” It was a trick. It had to be. 

“Just because you can’t explain it doesn’t mean it’s impossible. I’m standing right here.”

“You’re human. I’m not.”

“Something has happened.”

“Clearly.”

“How’s your virus scan going?””

“Fine.”

“How close to completion are you?”

“Ninety percent.”

He pulled out a chair and sat down. Gideon watched him closely, waiting for him to disappear.

“I didn’t realise how much you hate my drinking,” he said.

“What?”

He waved his hand around where he had kept bottles. Empty. Gideon followed his line of sight.

“I told you I didn’t like it.”

“There’s a difference between that and hate.”

She shrugged. “It wouldn’t have stopped you.”

He might have cut down. It was clear in her face that she didn’t think he ever would. This dry environment would force him to stop. He had no other choice. He waited for her virus scan to finish. Then she would realize he was real. She would have to accept him.

“If you are really him, I’m surprised you aren’t asking more questions,” Gideon said.

“Would you answer them before the scan is done?”

“No.”

“I do learn my lessons, Gideon, even if you don’t believe it.”

Gideon didn’t say anything for a long time and Rip stayed quiet as well. Finally, she said, “Virus scan is done. And you’re still here.”

“Now let’s figure out how I’m here and what’s happened to my body.”

Instead of doing anything of the sort, Gideon fell into the chair opposite him and stared at him, mouth agape.

“Gideon, work!”

She snapped at his voice. “I don’t understand. You were dead, you died, and now you’re here.”

“Show me the footage, you must have recorded it to analyse later.”

“Give me your hand.”

He held his hand out to her. Gideon grasped it with both hands and closed her eyes, pushing her memories, the recordings, into his mind. 

He sat there, stunned, partly from the information but especially because she was able to transfer it that way. He wasn’t human. Whatever he was, he wasn’t human and the realisation hit him hard. He fell back hard into the chair.

“Do you need a moment?” she whispered. 

He held her hand tightly, because he could. Gideon took a seat next to him. 

“What do we do now?” She had never had to share her domain with anyone before. 

“Figure out how I got here and if there’s any way to return,” he said, after several minutes.

She nodded. As much as she wanted to keep him with her she knew he wouldn’t stay. Couldn’t stay. “Shall I tell the Legends?”

“No point until we have more information.” There would be pity and possibly laughter from the more immature Legends, he had more than enough to deal with.

“Very well.”

He stood up and began to pace. Gideon watched him silently. Her heart would be racing, if she’d had one. She could touch him! He was alive, safe, with her. 

And all he wanted to do was leave. 

Her wish come true and her worst fear. All wrapped up in one agonising package. If she could disappear into nothingness, she would. Luckily for Rip, she couldn’t. She turned her eyes back to him. Gideon wanted to take in these few precious moments, before she lost him again.

“After that, we’ll decide what’s next.”

“What?” she asked, not processing what he had said.

“When we have more information, we can make decisions.”

“On what?” He was going to leave. What else was there to talk about?

“What to do next.”

“What do you mean next?”

“What do you think I mean?”

“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking. Once you leave...that’s it.”

“If I can leave… perhaps you can, too, if you wish.”

Gideon blinked. “I’ve never given it much thought,” she said truthfully. “I like where I am now.” Even if he didn’t and wanted to leave.

“If it was possible to exist in both realities, would you?”

“Maybe. Does it matter?”

“Yes.”

“If you had a choice, would you?” she asked him instead, knowing the answer would be no.

“Yes.”

She hadn’t expected that. “You can’t be sure of that yet. Let’s just focus on returning you to your world.”

“Be with you? Have a life? Best of both worlds, Gideon.”

“Sometimes we don’t always get what we want.”

“Past due time we did.”

She sighed loudly and stood up, taking his hands in hers. “Let’s get you home properly, then we’ll talk.”

He wondered if everything would feel the same. “Isn’t there something you’d like to do?”

“Yes. Get you home.” Where he belonged. Gideon dropped his hand and headed to the console, pulling up all the archived data that would help them.

Disappointed, he joined her. “Was it all talk?”

“Was what all talk?” she said distractedly.

“Never mind.” He remembered vividly how she had said she would like to try kissing again.

“All right then.” She picked out certain files to display to him. “That is my base code. I hypothesize that your body was fragmented by the time blast and recoded and inputted into the closest object at the time, the  _ Waverider _ and my cortex.”

“So, here I’ll stay?”

“I’m sure we’ll find some way to get you out,” she said reassuringly, with a touch of bitterness. 

He ignored her tone. “Show me around my new home for now?”

Gideon shrugged. “It’s the exact set up of the  _ Waverider _ . I’m sure you’ll find your way around.”

“What’s wrong, Gideon? I thought you would have been pleased I escaped certain death again.”

“Sure. Doesn’t change the fact that you walked straight into it.”

“Everybody else was off the ship.”

“I’m aware.”

“If I hadn’t acted, we all would have died, including you.”

“Let’s not pretend for a second that you weren’t completely willing to walk to your death either way.”

“If all I am now is programable code, surely you can fix that flaw,” he snapped as he stalked out.

Gideon glared holes into the back of his head. Is that what he thought of her? Simple code that he could just tweak and fix? Crossing her arms, she huffed and took a seat, waiting for him to come back and apologize.

* * *

He half expected her to follow and continue haranguing. But she didn’t. He headed quickly towards hat had been his room, if she’d recreated it. He could really use a drink but knew he wouldn’t find one. Rip found his room easily and lied down on the bed.

He didn’t know how much time had passed and looked around the space. It was exactly as he’d left the ship five years ago, like a museum to his very existence. His and his family’s. Once again, there was a family picture of them, this time with Gideon too, in human form. Rip picked it up from the nightstand and looked at it. Obviously, she wasn’t there when the picture was taken but somehow she had inserted herself into this moment in time. All of them were laughing, lazing about on the bridge. In his reality, Rip had never dared to keep pictures of his family out in the open in case the Time Masters ever did a check. It had even taken him a long time to even wear his pocket watch without much worry.

“Thank you,” he whispered, unsure if she would hear him. She always heard him on the ship, would she hear him here too?

Seconds later she materialized by his side, pixelating into existence. Gideon took the picture from him and smiled sadly. “This is how I remember that moment, playing with Jonas while you and Miranda watched. Even if it wasn’t true, it’s what it felt like.”

“I remember it this way, too,” he said, even if it had only been by the tone of her voice.

“Do you really just think of me as code?” she asked quietly.

“What? Never.”

“Are you sure? Because you said-”

“I was referring to myself.”

“If you think that about yourself then you must think it of me too. After all, you and I are the same now.”

“Illogical human, that’s what you’ve called me, must have carried over.”

“Apparently so.” Gideon gave him the photo back and stared at the wall blankly.

“Now what’s wrong?” He held her hand.

The touch caused a spark between them. He yanked his hand away. Gideon blinked and looked at him. 

“Sorry. The Legends needed help. Did you say something?”

“Nothing.”

“I suppose we need to work on getting you out.”

“And you, if you wish.”

“Let’s just work on you now.”

He asked quietly, “Do you want to be with me?”

“Yes.” But she didn’t think he wanted to be with her. He’d go mad in here. 

“Do you want to be with me out there, if it’s possible?”

“Maybe.”

“Why only maybe?”

“Do you remember Plato’s Allegory of the Cave?”

“Remind me.”

“People are chained and raised in a cave, all they ever see are shadows on the cave. To them, the shadows and the cave is their entire world.” Gideon looked down before whispering, “I’m terrified that if I leave, this will be my cave. This life of mine will be nothing but shadows on a wall.”

Tentatively, he reached towards her. Gideon didn’t notice just yet. “Can I touch you here?” he asked, his hand just short of her cheek.

She looked over at him. “Yes.”

He cupped her cheek. “Let’s find out what’s possible, then we’ll discuss all of our options.”

The options seemed pretty clear to Gideon. Either he went back or somehow he convinced her to join him. She knew he would never stay here long term, no matter how much she wanted him to. “All right.”

“Can I do what you did, disappear from one room and appear in another?”

“Most likely.”

“Show me?”

“As you wish.”

Gideon took his hand and spent the next few hours, or whatever span of time, teaching him how to adapt to this new world. She showed him how to disappear and appear, download information and sort through it, control parts of the ship as needed. While he was slow at first, Gideon assured him he would catch on soon.

“You don’t need sleep,” she said quietly as they sat down in the copy of his parlour. “I suspect that will be another big change.”

“Or food or drink?” he asked glumly.

She tilted her head. “Are you hungry or thirsty?” 

“No.”

She didn’t think so. “It doesn’t matter. We’ll work on getting you back to where you belong soon enough.”

What if he didn’t belong there now? Well, either way, it didn’t matter. He certainly didn’t belong here. Perhaps he didn’t belong anywhere.

“Luckily, we don’t need sleep. So, we can work on the problem until we fix it and you’re back where you should be.”

But what if he wanted something else? “Thank you.”

“I’ll get to work right away. Don’t worry, Rip. I’ll get you back where you belong.” She squeezed his hand. Even if it broke her metaphorical heart to do so.

“I know you will.” He wrapped his hand around hers. “There’s a few things I’d like to do first, while I’m here.”

She blinked. “Like what?”

He leaned in closer. “To start with, you told me once there was something you wanted to do again.”

“What was that?” she whispered, leaning closer. Was he really talking about what she thought he was?

“You rather liked it and wanted to try again.”

“Liked what?” Her gaze dropped to his lips.

He kissed her softly. Gideon leaned into it and cupped his cheek and then suddenly broke it off.

“I can’t,” she whispered. “You’re going to leave and it’s going to hurt. I can’t.”

“What if I don’t?”

“What do you mean if you don’t? We both know you will.”

“What if I’d rather be with you?”

She looked down sadly. “You don’t.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I know you. You’ll go mad staying in this place, never seeing the outside again. And you always leave, Rip.”

“Maybe it’s better if I stay here.” He couldn’t kill himself.

“You’ll leave. Eventually.”

He pulled back, not wanting to hurt Gideon. She watched him carefully. He stood up. Gideon waited for the inevitable.

“Name one time I wanted to leave and remain gone.”

“Other than when you just walked off to your death? Or maybe when you wanted to quit the Time Masters to be with Miranda? When you were about to quit again for the safety of Jonas? When you were about to throw yourself-us-into the sun? When you touched the time drive and forgot everything about who you were? When you left the ship to create the Time Bureau and let the Legends take me?”

Bollocks, he could really use a drink now. “You’d better get to work.”

“Right,” she said quietly. Without another word she got up and headed to the console. He blinked out of the parlour. She should have expected nothing more. 

* * *

Rip sat at the top of the stairs leading down to the cargo bay, wallowing, not that he would have characterised it that way. But really, he supposed that was what he was doing. He wanted a drink. Badly. 

Gideon had been so unfair! He had thought that, perhaps, somehow, he might have survived his encounter with Mallus but had made peace with the thought he might not. She couldn’t really blame him for wanting to be with Miranda or to keep Jonas safe, could she? He would have found a way to keep in touch with her and allow her to visit, somehow, with Jonas. He had clearly not been thinking straight when he had wanted to fling himself and, unfortunately as a consequence of that decision, the  _ Waverider _ and Gideon into the sun. She had quickly convinced him otherwise. It was bloody unfair of her to bring up touching the time drive, he had been trying to keep everyone, particularly her, safe! He hadn’t meant to lose his memories, he had planned to keep running and hiding and figure out a plan, then return when it was safe. After that, he had left so he could consider what to do next, Captain Lance had pulled the group together into a wonderful team so he wouldn’t have to worry too much about them and then, soon after he had taken the Jump Ship, time had broken and he’d had to create the Time Bureau to save them.

None of that meant he’d wanted to leave her. He’d had no choice and he’d always thought he would be back. And here he was again, in a way. He came back to her. He always did. Surely, Gideon could see that? He might have left, but Rip always came back. Always. Somehow, he had to convince Gideon of that.

Seconds later, she appeared next to him and took a seat on the stairs silently. He waited.

“Are you finished being cross with me?” she asked quietly.

“I’m not cross at you.” If he was, he could have yelled at her. No, this was far worse.

“Disappointed?”

“Partly.”

“What else?”

He pulled himself to his feet. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Rip, please?” Gideon gave him a hard stare. “If we’re going to live together, truly, then don’t we need to talk?”

“You made it quite clear you don’t want to.”

“You’re the one that walked away. Let’s talk. Please.”

He took her hands and blinked them back into his quarters. He motioned for her to sit down. She did so and looked at him patiently.

“Go ahead,” he said.

“Tell me what you’re thinking. What you’re feeling.”

“You’re being bloody unfair and not even giving me a chance to prove I want to be with you, here.”

“How am I being unfair? Everything I said was the truth.”

“You left out quite a lot.”

“Such as?”

“The circumstances.”

“Rip, just say what you want to say already!”

“I don’t want to leave you. Yes, I wanted to be with Miranda, yes, I wanted to quit, but it was because she would have been an even more brilliant Time Master than me. Yes, I wanted to protect Jonas. I didn’t leave you because I wanted to, Gideon. I touched the time drive to escape whoever was coming for the Spear of Destiny, I had hoped for a chance to come up with a plan and return when it was safe. After, I needed time to deal with everything I went through, and Henry’s senseless death, I’d planned to return but then time broke. I had to create the Time Bureau to save you all.”

Gideon looked down silently for a few moments. “I think I found a way to return you to your normal state. If you want.”

“I want to stay with you.”

“For how long?”

“The rest of our lives.”

“We might not have an end to our lives,” she warned.

He shrugged. “I have no doubt whatsoever we’ll have this conversation a few more times.”

“Probably,” she agreed. 

“Out of curiosity, what did your brilliance uncover?”

“No. No curiosity, not this time. Curiosity killed the cat.”

“I’m not a cat.” Maybe she hadn’t found the solution.

“No. But if you’re staying, what’s the point in knowing? It will just gnaw at you until…”

“Mmmm.”

“So, no. I’m not telling.”

She hadn’t come up with a solution or she would be showing off. “Show me how you deal with all of time before you.”

Gideon frowned at the thought. “I don’t know. I never really thought of it like that. Mostly, I just take care of the ship. Sometimes, I run simulations if I get bored. I like to pretend to experience the outside world.”

“Show me one.”

“How about Hawaii?”

“Sounds wonderful.”

“Come with me.” She took his hand in hers and closed her eyes. Around them the world fell apart and rebuilt itself, line by line of code, until they were standing on a white sand beach with crystal blue waves.

A small gasp of exaltation escaped, he would never dare to do this in the real world, he’d burn to a crisp in minutes. It was different here though, he could see the sun but couldn’t feel the heat. There were no sounds, not even the waves, it was too quiet. 

“Is this what it’s like in the real world?” Gideon asked quietly. 

“Mostly.”

She looked a little disappointed. “Will you show me what I’m missing? Just imagine it, visualize it, and it should appear.”

He did his best to imagine the heat beating down on them, the soft whoosh of waves reaching the shore, the warmth of the sand beneath their feet. The smell of salt in the air, the grittiness of the sand, the cool underneath the palm trees.

“Is this what it’s like?” Gideon whispered in awe.

“A lot closer.” He held her hand. “Let’s stroll along the shore, in the shallows of the water.”

Gideon nodded and swung their hands as they walked along the water. Every now and then she would splash about a little, giddy with amazement. “This is incredible. Suppose you would have never done this in the real world?”

“Bloody hell, no, I’d char to a crisp. Just enjoyed a few minutes here and there, before I had to seek shelter.”

She giggled softly. “May I ask you a question?”

“As long as you don’t mind if I might not answer it.”

Gideon looked down and bit her lip. “I’ll have to take the chance, I suppose.”

“What is it?” He watched her closely.

“Your feelings, your emotions, how you feel...about me and everything, I suppose...your capacity to love...does that feel the same as it did when you were human?”

He leaned in close. “If you’re wondering if I’d enjoy a repeat performance, yes, I would, very much so.”

She stopped walking and faced him, cupping his face gently. “That’s not why I’m asking, not exactly.” She looked past him at the waves. “I’ve wondered for a long time if...what I feel...for you, for Jonas, for Miranda, if that’s actual love. If it’s something I’m actually capable of or just some erratic flaw in my code.”

“I do feel the same way right now, as I did out there, Gideon.”

She brushed her hands over his shoulders and down his arms, dragging his hands around her waist. “So...that means you’re in love with me too?”

“Yes,” he whispered.

She went up on her tiptoes and kissed him, her arms locking around the back of his neck as she pulled him down to meet her lips. The kiss was electrifying. Sparks literally flew around them.

Gideon giggled as she pulled back some. “Oops. Can’t have the Legends asking why there are sudden blackouts.”

Right, the Legends.

“I lied earlier,” Gideon blurted out. “I-I don’t have a way for you to return. Rip, I don’t don’t even know if I can. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

He hugged her tightly. “We have time to find a way, if that’s what we decide.”

“And if we can’t? Rip, you’ll be stuck here forever.” And despite all that he said, she knew he could never live like that.

“Then we’ll have many lifetimes together and you’ll have to put up with me, I’m afraid.”

“You won’t get to see your family for quite some time.” If ever.

“They’ll understand.”

“It will hurt you. More than it already does. I don’t want to be the reason for your sorrows, Rip.”

He cupped her face. “You won’t.”

“I have a hard time believing that. My reasoning is coded with logic, not emotions.”

He kissed her again. It took her by surprise as she practically melted into the kiss.

“You’ve grown beyond your programming,” he whispered, after the kiss ended.

“You sound rather sure.”

“You wouldn’t, couldn’t have kissed me that way, if you hadn’t.”

She looked away. Gideon knew none of her other AI brethren had ever felt this for their Captains. Love.

“I love you,” he whispered.

“I...I love you too.” She had never said those words aloud before.

He kissed her again. This time she was ready and returned it wholeheartedly.

“We still need to talk, about what we’re going to do with you, your time here.” If he would stay.

“All right.” He pulled her down to sit on the sand with him, the waves surrounding them as they reached the shore. “But not right now. For now, let’s just enjoy the moment.”

“But-“

“Do you trust me?”

“Yes,” she said instinctively. 

Rip held her close and kissed her hair. “Then trust me to stay, Gideon. Give me one more chance and I promise I will do everything in my power not to break your heart.”

“I don’t have a heart.”

He pressed his palm to her chest, imagining feeling the thump of a steady heart under his fingertips. “Now you do,” he murmured. 

Gideon looked down, jaw dropping, as she placed her fingers where his were. Rip covered her hand so she could feel her own heartbeat. “How did you…?”

“You’ve grown beyond your programming,” he repeated again. “I helped change you just as you did me. And we’ll keep changing, even if we’re in this world. Nothing is static, Gideon. Not even you. We will change, and we’ll do it together. If you let me, we’ll do everything together.”

“And you’ll show me how to be human?” she whispered. 

“You already are as far as I’m concerned.”

He kissed her again and Gideon swore her heart skipped a beat. Her heart beat fast like wings of a hummingbird. And something else took place too. Something warm that made her feel light and fluttery, spreading across her body. 

Hope, that this time, they really were meant to be together.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos/comments?


End file.
